The Butterfly Effect, Right Away

I let my eyes drift, as if nothing at all were wrong, and found I was still inside the carriage. The elf across from me wore the look of someone who had said all she meant to say; she was watching the world beyond the window. I looked out as well. We had already left the forest behind, and grassland rolled away, vast and open, on every side.

A brief silence. In the rattling carriage I stared blankly out at the passing land and turned it over in my head.

On the Rangesdal Continent, four kingdoms stood around the Empire of Cladei. Rivelin to the east, Northrem to the west, Inserium to the south, Praxia to the north. The long centuries of war were over, and the four kingdoms that had knelt to the Empire now kept up the form of an alliance. There were, of course, small countries the Empire had never recognized, and kingdoms that had already fallen. That much, I was certain, had not changed even now that I was Ellen.

Hm...

I chased the memory further. It was true the Empire was mighty. But the story began here—with an empty throne. Under imperial law, the Empire had decided to choose its next emperor from among the royal houses of the four kingdoms entered in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the imperial code. The so-called Imperial Selection. The reason was... because the imperial house no longer had a legitimate heir left. Was that it? At any rate, whoever ascended would turn the course of the continent, and the fates of the four kingdoms with it.

And in that unstable order, one name had drawn every eye. The princess of Rivelin, carried home by a divine beast.

...Ivelia.

That same Ivelia had been meant to die today in the Boundary Forest. Put simply, saving this elf had been nothing but chance. From that moment, though, I had stepped into the main current of the story.

Ivelia turned from the window toward me.

"Why was one of our people from Rivelin in the Boundary Forest? It's unclaimed land. You don't look like an adventurer, either."

So it was starting again. The suspicion was only natural. The Boundary Forest was a danger zone, crawling with monsters, and on this point there was simply no way to make her believe me.

"...Let's say I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had my reasons."

I tossed it off while looking out the window, and Ivelia let out a long sigh.

"Haa. I don't mean to put you in a difficult spot."

"If that's how it is, then fine."

"But even if you saved my life, do you think they'll let someone of unknown identity through the castle gates in Arcadia?"

That left me briefly speechless. I was nothing but a local who had been written out of the story, with no affiliation to my name. I had nothing I could offer as proof. A sidelong glance at the system window showed me Skip sitting dark.

So it goes on cooldown after I use it?

"Once we arrive, I can explain—"

Before I could finish, the carriage lurched and stopped dead.

"We've still got a long way to go... Clid, what's wrong?"

I looked past the carriage window. The door opened, and the man I had faced earlier bowed his head and delivered some report.

So that man was Clid. A knight commander, by the look of the post.

Hm... I don't remember ever hearing that name.

Then again, Lee Suhyun had never been the type to bother naming anyone who wasn't a lead. Maybe ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this extra called Clid having a name at all was a consequence of my meddling in the story.

"Sorry. Just a moment."

With that, Ivelia stepped down from the carriage. I was a little dizzy myself, whether from the rocking or from forcing myself to play it cool.

"...Maybe I should step outside."

The door creaked as I eased it open. Soil and grass met my feet. The plain was far vaster than it had seemed through the window. The Boundary Forest, where I had opened my eyes as Ellen, was already gone from sight, and what stretched before me was the sort of endless grassland I had only ever seen in nature documentaries.

Something flashed. Squinting, I picked out a small pond glittering under the sun far off, and whenever the wind passed, soft and easy, the grass bowed one way and then the other. To someone who had spent his life shut indoors, it was an unreal sight. That guy's novel had never bothered to describe anything in this kind of detail.

I drew a long breath. I was just fucking furious.

"Nnngh—"

Stretching, I looked toward the lead carriage. Ivelia and Clid were talking, and around them knights and soldiers had dropped down wherever they liked to rest.

"Did you hear? The Toraniska's corpse. They're saying there's not a single trace of mana being used."

"How's that make any sense? The thing was smashed to hell."

"Those wounds aren't even in the same realm as the Toraniska we took down with the commander."

I heard the soldiers, but I had no desire to get tangled up with them. They were people I had no use for, not for what I meant to do. I lifted my head and took in the surroundings.

That aside, though... this is something.

I hadn't really noticed when I first climbed into the carriage, but it was a considerable force. A hundred men, easily. Was this what it took just to pay a visit to another country?

"Five carriages, at least. Soldiers, knights, attendants, and that robe... a mage?"

This world had mages, of course, and grimoires, and, more rarely, magic swordsmen who fought with mana. True mages, though—those who used pure magic without wrapping mana around a weapon—were not so common. Even among them the spread ran something like six of low rank, three of middle rank, and a single one of high rank. A high-rank mage could hold, alone, a battle line that hundreds of a kingdom's soldiers would have to assemble to raise. Perhaps for that reason, most mages belonged not to adventuring companies but to palaces, to magic towers, and to the Sanctus Grand Cathedral. Skill still varied widely even among those of the same station, but in a place without the familiar measures of class or circle, reputation simply claimed the largest share.

"Sorry. Took a while."

I was still staring, lost in it, when Ivelia called from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠behind. I turned and found her standing there with Clid. He took a step forward.

"I regret saying this after having invited you, but it would be difficult to bring a man of unknown identity all the way to the capital."

Doing whatever he wants.

"So I should like to conduct a brief appraisal. Would that be acceptable?"

Ivelia backed him up.

"It'll be over in a quick swish and swish. Really!"

Hm. Truth be told, I was curious too—whether it would really come out F-Rank, just as the novel said.

Clid indicated the mage beside him, buried in a black robe.

"Veil is from the Kingdom of Praxia, but he naturalized to the Kingdom of Rivelin long ago as an appraiser. His skill alone earned him that leave, so he may be trusted."

"Sure. No reason to refuse. I'll take it."

When I finished, Ivelia looked at Clid and smiled. She seemed confident she could talk me into going through with it.

"Then, Veil. See to the appraisal."

"I am Veil, court mage and appraiser of the Kingdom of Rivelin."

"...Ah, yes. I'll be in your care."

Within the hood of the robe I could see white hair and gray eyes empty of light.

"Then, if I may."

He inclined his head slightly and brought the staff in his left hand—as tall as he was—up against my solar plexus. Blue light began to coil around it.

"...?"

A mechanical tone cut through the moment. Irregular, a skill that never even appeared on the system window. The one piece of information I still didn't have.

...If Appraisal is blocked, what happens then?

Even as I wondered, I saw the appraiser Veil's eyes go wide.

"F."

"Huh?"

"You have been appraised as F-Rank."

The cause felt a little off, but figures. It really was what it was. I could feel the eyes of the soldiers who had been resting and talking among themselves. So they'd only been pretending not to care.

"Haa..."

I had known, and still the sigh escaped me. Clid, who had clearly been expecting a higher rank, looked startled as well.

"F-Rank, was it? It seems we overestimated him."

"Clid! Even so, Ellen saved my life."

"Lady Ivelia, there must have been a misunderstanding."

"..."

"I would rather not judge a man by his rank either. Even so, an F-Rank is a grade that cannot defeat so much as a D-Rank slime. This is the first time I have seen one with my own eyes."

"Even so..."

"That man could die to a slime that even a child who has only just learned to hold a spoon can kill."

Is it really that bad?

Well, of course I wouldn't have known. The only F-Rank, Ellen, had been abandoned in the forest, and that was the end of him. What was absurd was this: they were seeing an F-Rank for the first time, and the first thing they did was pile on the condemnation. High or low, if a rare grade had just appeared, wasn't this the sort of thing you reported to someone in mana studies?

"It is absurd that such a man slew a Toraniska. Why he was in the Boundary Forest remains a question, but an F-Rank is not worth the asking."

"Even so, Clid. We're the ones who invited him first. I don't think that kind of treatment is right."

"My apologies, Lady Ivelia. Now that he has been revealed as an F-Rank, however, we cannot invite him as far as the palace. If you will permit him to accompany us only to Arcadia, I would be grateful."

"...All right."

"—We move out again."

Clid looked at me the way one looks at an insect, bellowed at the people still at rest, and vanished from sight. No one asked what I thought. The matter was simply over.

And so the carriage set off again. Neither of us said a word. Ivelia was still watching me, the same as before, but the face that had been full of curiosity had changed to pity and sympathy.

"......What, you got something to say?"

"...Yeah. Sometimes monsters just die of unexplained causes."

"And why's that matter?"

"Maybe the Toraniska actually died of unknown causes?"

"......"

Unbelievable. I smacked my forehead and felt, keenly, what it meant to live as an F-Rank. The treatment itself had changed. Even the look in their eyes had changed. Was this the same person who had been so curious about who I was a moment ago?

"You must have been really startled today, right? I'm sorry. I think we pushed too hard. Once we reach Arcadia you should eat plenty of good food and get yourself properly clean... Do you have any money?"

She gasped, clapped a hand over her mouth, and started rummaging through a pocket, watching me with even more pity. She was written as a half-elf kind to the point of foolishness, so some of it was probably just her overdoing the part. Being on the receiving end, though, made me a little angry. Happy ending or not, I meant that sincerely.

And so we rode on for a long while, receiving not mockery and contempt, but pity and sympathy. After a time Ivelia drew something from her pocket and held it out. Coins clicked softly together.

"If things get really hard, show them this. You'll at least be able to eat."

Two silver coins, and a round blue magic seal about the size of my palm. The silver I could understand. The seal, though...?

I tilted the pass-like seal this way and that. Its color shifted with the light, and a thinly engraved lotus came into view. I knew the broad shape of this world, but not every tool in it, piece by piece. And I was in no mood, just now, to ask about something like this.

"You must have had such a hard time. Why did you go into that forest? Don't tell me it was suicide! No. Even if life is hard, you have to look for something else to do."

"...Ha."

I let the endless sympathy go in one ear and out the other and watched the scenery beyond the carriage window. What mattered, I told myself, stealing a glance at the system window and clinging to the optimistic thought, was that it was still up there.

High over the wide grassland, a single black speck crossed the blue sky.

...An airplane? There's no way something like that exists.

Nor was there any reason an imperial Levitation Ship would be passing at a time like this. Frowning, I watched the view beyond the shaking window with care. The black speck climbed higher and higher, then vanished from sight.

"...?"

A moment later the clouds split open as if they had been torn, and through the gap something enormous appeared. A sharp rush of air. The thing moved once, hugely, then folded its wings and plunged straight toward us.